Couthuin

Couthuin is a village in the municipality of Héron, in the province of Liège, Wallonia. It lies in the Hesbaye area, between Huy and Namur, in a landscape of large farms, open agricultural land and old rural estates. Couthuin was an independent municipality until the Belgian municipal mergers of 1977, when it became part of Héron.

The village has an unexpectedly industrial past. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Couthuin was associated with the extraction of iron ore, lead and coal, alongside the agriculture that still shapes the area today. Iron mining continued until 1945 and coal extraction until 1947.

One of Couthuin’s hamlets is Marsinne, immediately west of the village centre. It contains several substantial historic farm complexes, including the château-farm of Marsinne, a seventeenth-century estate that later became home to Brasserie de Marsinne and Léopold 7. Marsinne also hosts a long-running festival of traditional music and dance.

The wider Héron area is strongly agricultural, with large Hesbaye farmsteads and historic estates forming much of the local landscape. The Marsinne château-farm is one of the more distinctive examples, and its later use as a brewery gives Couthuin a modern connection to Belgian beer culture.